Abstract
We study the coupling of lateral and normal tip oscillations and its effect on the imaging process of frequency-modulated dynamic atomic force microscopy. The coupling is induced by the interaction between tip and surface. Energy is transferred from the normal to the lateral excitation, which can be detected as damping of the cantilever oscillation. However, energy can be transferred back into the normal oscillation, if not dissipated by the usually uncontrolled mechanical damping of the lateral excitation. For certain cantilevers, this dissipation mechanism can lead to dissipation rates larger than 0.01 eV per period. The mechanism produces an atomic contrast for ionic crystals with two maxima per unit cell in a line scan.
Highlights
The usage of scanning probe microscopes requires an understanding of the physical processes during the scan, otherwise images can be misinterpreted
Due to the importance of frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy (FM-AFM), the physical processes involved have been studied intensively in the past [1]. This includes the relation between tip–surface interaction and frequency-shift [2], as well as features such as the energy dissipation during the scan [3], which is an interesting side-effect of the FM-AFM principle
The height of a point on the surface is measured by shifting the probe such that the resonant frequency of the cantilever oscillation is detuned by a given amount due to surface–tip interactions
Summary
The usage of scanning probe microscopes requires an understanding of the physical processes during the scan, otherwise images can be misinterpreted. Energy loss of the oscillation occurs due to mechanical damping of the cantilever, and due to interaction between tip and surface, so that the damping signal can be used for imaging, even with atomic resolution [4].
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